Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-26
WICHITA AS AN EDUCATIONAL
CENTER.
To the Editor Of the Eagle:

Among the many and principle charms
of Wichita is her future destiny as an cdu.
cation center. In the history of all ages
and countries there has ever been some
place or city that seemed to take precedence
over all others as an educational and scien-
tifc center, where deep thought. genius,
! oratory and eloquence arrayed themselves
in all their scholastic glory. But never in
the history of the world has there been an
educational center having so many educa-
tional institutions and advantages for the
requirement of knowledge and learning as
will be afforded by our own city of WITCH
tia, when her colleges and institutions are
completed and launched forth in the great
work of spreading knowledge. When
that time comes while standing in the cen
ter of the great metropolis of the south
west we will have institutions of learning
upon every hand, liz the rear Of us, in
/ front of us, to the left of US, and to the
right of us. When that time comes we
will truly be called the educational center
of the world, the Athens of America, the
fitting occidental antitype of oriental
Athens, standing like beacon light ele-
waited high in the heavens Illuminating and
shedding its light over the western world
as did the Athens of old over the Orient.
There is nothing so elevating and refining
as the influence of education in the indi-
vidual in the home and in the further
ance of "home rule" and the administra-
ton of good government. Hence it fol-
lows that Wichita is abundantly able to
take care of her own affairs.
We have built and have under course of
construction the following institutions Of
learning. Seven corporation school houses,
an efficient business college, the Lewis
academy, Garfield university, Judson uni
versity, Central university, Wichita uni
versity. Paramount Female college, and the
John Bright university.
Each of the above have been literally en-
dowed both in lands and money, and will
be championed by their own denomination
al sect.
The endowments of the building and
maintenance of these institutions will
reach In the aggregate the magnificent sum
of one and half to two millions of dol
lars, and the natural increase in the value
of the property outside of their grounds or
campus. Thus Wichita is destined to ex-
ert great influence for good over the
western world, and is we'll calculated to
make brilliant intellectual record, as she
has the advantage of all the advanced
thought and researches of ages gone by.
This idea of intellectual advancement is
most sublime and superlatively grand
theme
Never in the history of the world has
there been time so frought with such
marvellous achievements, such profound
advancement in scientific and philosophical
inventions as those marked in the closing
decades of the present century since the
very dawn IF human existence. Now in |
the years that are to come, shall not /
Wichita add something to the great ocean
of knowledge and hand down a heritage to
future generations just as the great
achievements of the past have been handed |
down to us, making US the heir of the
ages.
Yes, we, the inhabitants of this globe
basking in the sunlight of heavens sent
and surrounded by the great
light and vast achievements of the nine
teenth century are the heir of the ages; we
are not the heirs of the ages, for
thus it would signify that tie heritage is to
be divided, but we are one and all
both singly and jointly the heir of all the
and achievements that have been
Won in the worlds history. Wea heir to
all the victories that have been won by the
weary march, the lannon's opening 1oar,
and the last expiring means of the dead
and dying as their life-blood ebbed slowly
away among the withered leaves upon the
CORY fields of battle, where might and right
strove for the mastery; and we are today
enjoying the blessings and comforts bought
by the study, suffering and life and death
Of other men, who lived and died in the
different ages of the world, leaving their
foot prints upon the sands of time.
We are heir to the heroic struggles of
Franklin and Kane amidst Polar SHOWS
and the weary marches of Livingston and
Stanley over the burning sands and through
the deep, dense jungles of Africa We
are heir to all this and much more We
are heir to the benefcient results of the
Intellectual wars of the ages, to the wealth,
culture, refinement commerce and business
interests of this fair, broad and beautiful
land of ours, with its diversified scenery,
its broad expansion, undulating plains and
dense numbering forests, with its long and
winding rivers which meander in and out
among the mountains and down the valleys
until they are lost in the stormy ocean.
This globe, with its majestic oceans, fer
lie valleys, productive highlands and vine
covered hills receieving the freshening rains
and upon which the pure sparkling dew
irop accumulates only to be kissed away
when the morning light breaks over the
landscape by the first rays of the rising sun
As he ascends in his majestic course over
he eastern hills. This oblique spheroid
upon which We live, and which